Still in too much pain to think clearly, Zyrtec lay curled on the floor pondering over how long it would be until he died. His eyes were dulled as he stared blankly at the wall, most signs of life nearly gone. The cage door creaked as it opened and a few people entered, one of them saying, "Not much left of you, pretty boy." Recognizing the voice, Zyrtec unconsciously growled when they touched him, but wasn't able to do much else. After almost an entire week of having his Mana and strength drained out of him, he was pitiful and vulnerable. "Growl all you want, it's time to move you over." The man picked him up easily and slung him over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. After which, they left the cage and went down a dark corridor, walking in silence. He felt sick, hungry, and everything hurt. Swaying slightly as his head hung over the man's back, his eyes blurry. The small group of people stopped at a door at the end of the pathway, tried to open it, then failed. "Let me get the key."
"Ah, so you have it." The man holding Zyrtec shifted him around to reach into his pocket and his chin rested on the man's shoulder for a moment. As the man unlocked the door, a lovely sound entered his ears and he instinctively twisted sharply, biting down on his neck as his eyes glowed bright red. The delicious taste of blood flowed into his mouth and he drank deeply, completely freaking out the group around him.
"Get him off me! It hurts!" Starving, he grabbed the man's shoulder with clawed hands, refusing to let go when they all pulled on him. Eventually, his body started to react negatively to the large amounts of blood and he stopped, gasping with his eyes wide. The man pushed him off reflexively and he hit the dirt with a thud. "You…!" One of the men grabbed his wrist and stopped him from hitting Zyrtec, shaking his head. "You're in for it." Shoving the door open, he stomped off, yanking open a large metal door and throwing Zyrtec inside roughly. "You better hope I never see you again." Small hands reached out to catch him from behind as the door slammed shut and the men left. Worried whispers carried to him as he glanced around, finding a few other children inside the cage.
'What…?' He was surprised while looking at all of them, each one wearing the cuffs except for the neck one. 'So I'm the only one that threatened them.' With them helping him sit up, quiet discussions began to take place.
Elsewhere, the man from before was wincing and touching his neck delicately on his way to get it wrapped. "Geez, what is he? First he was insanely strong and now what? He's biting me?"
The others next to him were all laughing, except one who said, "He might be...no, they haven't been out in the open for a while."
"What? Is he a freak of nature or something?"
"I'm not exactly sure but I've heard of humanoid creatures that drink blood and are stronger than human adults as children."
"Do you know what they're actually called so I can look it up?"
"Uh…"
"I'll take that as a no."
"If you just ask around you'll probably find what you want. We should get that cleaned up first." They continued their chatter as they walked, the one continuously grumbling on their way.
Zyrtec, rather stunned by the kids, wasn't entirely sure what to do when one said, "H-hello...are you a foreigner too?" All the children in there looked to be older than him by appearance only, but it would still help with conversation.
"Why?"
"Everyone here, and the others before, are foreigners. And...we all have mana, except for a few."
"The ones that don't are brought back but the ones that do never return." They were mumbling quietly as if afraid of being heard.
This, even through his pain, piqued his interest. "No, I'm not one." This seemed to upset them and they shuffled away and huddled together in a corner.
"The pattern is gone. What now?"
"I don't know…" They started shivering and Zyrtec felt guilty, but looking closer, hardly any of them looked like humans.
When he tried to move to speak, he realized that he wasn't in as much pain as he should've been. 'Huh? When did that change?' Thinking it over, the only conclusion he could come to, based on what was different, was that he had drank blood. 'Is something about me blocking the effects of the collar?' Now that he thought about it, he could faintly feel his Mana again. 'Then if I drink enough blood…' As that crossed his mind, he glanced at the children with a slight glint of hunger before shaking his head and looking away. 'I can't do that. They're in the same situation and look as hungry as I was a few minutes ago.' Hugging his knees to his chest, he stared blankly through the bars on either side of the door. Almost an entire day passed like that in silence when the sound of someone shouting rang throughout the place and soon after a man was banging the door of their cage.
Swinging it open, he glared around at the kids, then smirked and reached inside, grabbing a young girl that looked to be nearing ten years old. "Out, you're next." She screamed and cried, kicking at the man and even trying to bite the hand around her arm. "Behave!" He threw her down and she cried out, then curled up in a pitiful ball of tears. "Get up."
"No!" Her wailing made her voice sound unusual as she promptly refused to obey.
"Up!" He swung his foot out but it never connected with her, instead landing on the chest of a younger boy who stood with his arms out and a scowl. Zyrtec stumbled from the blow and managed to stay upright and in front of her because of how lightly he was actually kicking her. "Out of the way or it'll be you!"
With a growl, he shouted, "Then just take me instead!"
The man paused, confused. "What?"
"Then take me." He eyed Zyrtec, glancing at the black cuff around his neck before crossing his arms after seeing it.
"It's you. Fine. You're healthier than the rest anyway...perhaps using starved children is what's making this fail." Leaning forward and grabbing Zyrtec's arm roughly, he dragged the boy out, locking the heavy metal door behind him. He was trying to keep up with the older person but was struggling and ultimately just stumbled willingly.
'That was stupid. But…' As his mother had once mentioned, he hated seeing something like that. His body had moved unconsciously to protect her, even though he tried to fight against it. 'She was crying and he was going to hit her for it. Not hard, not from what I was hit with, but it would still hurt.' Keeping track of their path in case he was able to escape, he let the man guide him away. 'What are they using so many kids for though? He mentioned something failing earlier.' Climbing a long set of stairs, Zyrtec flinched when a door was opened and sunlight assaulted his eyes. The light was cut off by the time he opened his eyes again, but they were still outside, just sticking to the shadows. Knowing an opportunity when he saw one, he took a deep breath slowly so as to not get noticed, then just let out a plain screeching sound and that startled the man in front of him as well as the people on the other sides of the buildings. It hadn't sounded human at all and he was terribly disturbed, but soon got over it and slapped his hand over Zyrtec's mouth, cutting it off.
"Hush!" He had never met a child that had done such a thing, especially so creepy. Zyrtec went limp after tilting his head at the man, going into full on acting mode. Across down, an angered dragoness grew wings from her back while still in a human form, then leapt, flying swiftly towards the screech.
As she sped at incredible speeds, she had only one thought, 'I found him! I'll make them all pay!' The man knew something was off though and hurried the child into a secret passage, quickly tying a blindfold over his eyes and sprinting down what seemed to be a long path. Just as Aztoria was slamming onto the ground where it had come from, the man exited the passage and tossed Zyrtec onto a carriage, urging the coachman to take off like his life depended on it. He hopped into the back with the kid as the carriage picked up speed and went over the hills at a brisk pace. Astoria frowned when she could only partially smell him where he had clearly been standing only a minute ago. Taking off, she flew up and looked around but still couldn't spot him. In an attempt to locate him, she did exactly what he had and waited for a response.
Hearing the even louder responding shriek, the man was glad he had hurried along. "Go faster!" Zyrtec, although blindfolded and unable to see where they were going, could still smell everything, hear, and speak. Opening his mouth to reply, the man saw and immediately stopped the boy, stabbing him with something. Feeling drowsy instantly, Zyrtec tried to say something but it only came out as a groan, falling onto his side. 'That was a close one.'
Astoria was now panicking. 'No! Where is he?! I could've sworn he just tried to make sound, but from where?!' She spun around in the air, desperate. While she wanted to chase after where she thought it had come from relentlessly, she couldn't just leave her other children behind. Making her right hand into a fist and planting it over her heart forcibly, she said, "Zyrtec, I swear to you, I haven't forgotten you. I'm coming."